There are piles of low budget, poor quality horror films at the local rental store, and I've been through dozens of them. What makes them bad is rarely the special effects, but the writing and acting.
The Other Side appeared from the cover to be a horror movie, but played more like a straight up action film with a strong supernatural current running through. There were some horror elements, but they pretty much took a back seat to the action.
The acting and script were surprisingly good, with an interesting story to support them. Some of the special effects were inferior, but I can always let that slide if the other elements are handled well. I felt the character interactions were believable, as were their reactions to the crazy situations. I've seen many horror films that throw their characters into remarkable circumstances and there is minimal system shock - as if they'd somehow been desensitized or done this before, even though they had not. If a character is unimpressed and minimally affected by his or her circumstances, then how am I supposed to be terrified?
One of the biggest criticisms I have for the film was with the opening. We are served with a barrage of images that take snippets of events which occur throughout the film and toss them together in a sort of collage that lasts only a few minutes. This was an apparent "Pulp Fiction" or "Memento" type of moment I suppose, with the attempt to inject some art into the film. It did not work - the entire first few minutes should have wound up on the cutting room floor. My stop-button finger was definitely twitching and if it had gone on for much longer then I probably would have missed the rest of the movie.
Fortunately I stayed and found the experience to be entertaining and worthwhile. This one will not win any awards and probably doesn't have a wide appeal, but the horror fans of the world like me should be pleased.
The Other Side appeared from the cover to be a horror movie, but played more like a straight up action film with a strong supernatural current running through. There were some horror elements, but they pretty much took a back seat to the action.
The acting and script were surprisingly good, with an interesting story to support them. Some of the special effects were inferior, but I can always let that slide if the other elements are handled well. I felt the character interactions were believable, as were their reactions to the crazy situations. I've seen many horror films that throw their characters into remarkable circumstances and there is minimal system shock - as if they'd somehow been desensitized or done this before, even though they had not. If a character is unimpressed and minimally affected by his or her circumstances, then how am I supposed to be terrified?
One of the biggest criticisms I have for the film was with the opening. We are served with a barrage of images that take snippets of events which occur throughout the film and toss them together in a sort of collage that lasts only a few minutes. This was an apparent "Pulp Fiction" or "Memento" type of moment I suppose, with the attempt to inject some art into the film. It did not work - the entire first few minutes should have wound up on the cutting room floor. My stop-button finger was definitely twitching and if it had gone on for much longer then I probably would have missed the rest of the movie.
Fortunately I stayed and found the experience to be entertaining and worthwhile. This one will not win any awards and probably doesn't have a wide appeal, but the horror fans of the world like me should be pleased.